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Bautista hits milestone 50th home run of season

Jose Bautista #19 of the Toronto Blue Jays watches as his 50th home run of the season leaves the ball park during game action against the Seattle Mariners on September 23, 2010 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The Blue Jays outfielder hit his 50th home run of the Major League Baseball season in his first at bat on Thursday afternoon at the Rogers Centre. The smash did not come off of a journeyman or a recent call-up, either. Felix Hernandez, the Seattle Mariners' Cy Young candidate and the American League's strikeout and earned-run average leader, was on the mound.

Bautista hit a 2-1 offering from Hernandez out of the park, with the ball landing in the bullpen behind the left field wall. The home run came with two outs and nobody on base, giving Toronto a 1-0 lead.

Bautista had been stuck on 49 home runs for the past three games, last going deep on Saturday against Boston. He received a curtain call from the mostly empty Rogers Centre.

George Bell held the previous record for home runs by a Blue Jay in a single season when he hit 47 home runs in 1987. Bautista becomes the 26th player in Major League history to reach the 50-home run mark.

National Post

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